Granny Nell still on the go for her community
There aren’t many people in Pooler who don’t know who Granny Nell is. Since 1949, she’s devoted most of her time in volunteer work with the City of Pooler.
She was raised in Dublin, Georgia, but moved to Pooler in 1949 when she was 23 years old. “Pooler didn’t even have paved streets back then. They were all dirt roads,” remembered Nell Anderson. “There were two gas stations, one grocery store, a movie theatre and the train was still running then. It’s amazing what Pooler has become now.”
Nell may be 80, but this senior is on the go as much if not more than most people. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she leads an exercise class at the Pooler Senior Citizens Center. “They all seem to love it,” says Nell. “Our attendance on these days is usually more than others.”
Nell started working at the Senior Center in 1989 as the van driver. “I would drive everywhere. From picking them up from their homes to taking them to events, there wasn’t anywhere we didn’t go,” she said. “I would even take them up to the lumber yard to get scrap wood for various projects they had going on.”
She served at the senior center until 2002 when she retired from driving the van. And, in a special ceremony held by then Mayor Buddy Carter, Nell was recognized for her years of dedication and service to the City. A signed proclamation, read by the Mayor at the ceremony, stated that July 30, 2002 would from that point be Nell Anderson Day in Pooler. “I didn’t expect something like that,” says Nell. “It was really nice of them to do that for me.”
She was first called Granny Nell by her grandchildren, and while she worked concessions at the Pooler Recreation ball park, the other children caught on to the affectionate name sung by her grandchildren. “Even today, I might be somewhere in Pooler and some child from then, that is now grown, will say, Hello Granny Nell,” says Nell. “It’s heart-warming to this day.”
When she’s not at the Senior Center, or leading exercise classes, she spends her time reading historical romances. She also likes fishing on her sons’ land in Metter and spending time at her daughter’s pool in Effingham.
“When I look at Pooler then, as compared to now, it has changed so much,” says Nell. “The growth has been good for business, but I liked it a little smaller.”
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